Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. It also adds a custom desktop and menus, several unique configuration tools, and a web-based package installation interface. Linux Mint is compatible with Ubuntu software repositories.

Simon Long has announced the release of Raspbian 2015-11-21, a new update of the Debian-based distribution made for the Raspberry Pi single-board mini-computer: "Amid all the excitement last week, some people have noticed that we also released an updated Raspbian image, and have been asking what is in it. Obviously, one of the most important features of this image is support for Pi Zero (which is also the main reason we didn't make any fuss about it in advance). But there are a few other small changes which apply to all versions of the Pi, so here's a list for the curious. IBM's Node-RED Internet Of Things application is now included - this allows you to rapidly create IoT applications by connecting blocks in a graphical editor. To get started, run the Node-RED application from Programming in the main menu, and then use the web browser to access port 1880 at your Pi's own address to see the editor. Under Preferences in the main menu, you will now find an option for Add/Remove Software. This launches a modified version of the GNOME Packages application, which allows you to add and remove software on your Pi." Read the full release announcement for further information and screenshots. Download the compressed image file from here: 2015-11-21-raspbian-jessie.zip (1,271MB, SHA1, torrent).

Raspbian is a free operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux and optimised for the Raspberry Pi hardware (the armhf processor architecture). Raspbian comes with over 35,000 packages, or pre-compiled software bundled in a nice format for easy installation on a Raspberry Pi. The initial build was completed in June of 2012, but the distribution continues to be active developed with an emphasis on improving the stability and performance of as many Debian packages as possible. Although Debian produces a distribution for the arm architecture, it is compatible only with versions later than the one used on the Raspberry Pi (ARMv7-A CPUs and higher vs the Raspberry Pi's ARMv6 CPU).

Simon Long has announced the release of an updated build of Raspbian, a Debian-based distribution for the Raspberry Pi single-board computers. This new version improves compatibility with large monitors and provides a way to set a default screen option depending on the size of the monitor: "You may have noticed that we released a updated Raspbian software image yesterday. While the main reason for the new image was to provide support for the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, the image also includes, alongside the usual set of bug fixes and minor tweaks, one significant chunk of new functionality that is worth pointing out. ... The Appearance Settings application was a good place to start regarding support of different screen sizes. One of the features I originally included was a button to set everything to a default value. Now, there is no longer a single defaults button, but a new Defaults tab with multiple options." Read the full release announcement for further information and screenshots. Download either the standard build or the "lite" edition: 2018-03-13-raspbian-stretch.zip (1,694MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, pkglist), 2018-03-13-raspbian-stretch-lite.zip (349MB, signature, SHA256, torrent).

Simon Long has announced the release of an updated build of Raspbian, a Debian-based distribution designed for the Raspberry Pi single-board computers: "We're pleased to announce that we are releasing the latest version of Raspbian 'Stretch' for your Pi today. This new release is mostly bug fixes and tweaks over the previous Stretch release, but there are one or two changes you might notice. The file manager included as part of the LXDE desktop (on which our desktop is based) is a program called PCManFM and it's very feature-rich; there's not much you can't do in it. However, having used it for a few years, we felt that it was perhaps more complex than it needed to be - the sheer number of menu options and choices made some common operations more awkward than they needed to be. So to try to make file management easier, we have implemented a cut-down mode for the file manager." Read the full release announcement for more information and screenshots. Download the standard build or the "lite" edition from here: 2017-11-29-raspbian-stretch.zip (1,683MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, pkglist), 2017-11-29-raspbian-stretch-lite.zip (348MB, signature, SHA256, torrent).

Raspbian is a special build of the Debian operating system for Raspberry Pi computers. The Raspbian project has released a new version of their operating system which is now based on Debian 9 "Stretch". "It's now just under two years since we released the Jessie version of Raspbian. Those of you who know that Debian run their releases on a two-year cycle will therefore have been wondering when we might be releasing the next version, codenamed Stretch. Well, wonder no longer - Raspbian Stretch is available for download today! Debian releases are named after characters from Disney Pixar's Toy Story trilogy. In case, like me, you were wondering: Stretch is a purple octopus from Toy Story 3. Hi, Stretch! The differences between Jessie and Stretch are mostly under-the-hood optimisations, and you really shouldn't notice any differences in day-to-day use of the desktop and applications. (If you're really interested, the technical details are in the Debian release notes." A list of important changes and screen shots can be found in the Raspbian release announcement. The distribution is available in full and Lite editions. Download (SHA256, pkglist): 2017-08-16-raspbian-stretch.zip (1,677MB, signature, torrent), 2017-08-16-raspbian-stretch-lite.zip (348MB, signature, torrent).

Simon Long has announced the release of Raspbian 2017-06-21, an updated build of the project's distribution designed for the Raspberry Pi. In case you are wondering, this version is still based on Debian 8 "Jessie" (and not on the just-released Debian 9 "Stretch"). From the release announcement: "Today we've released another update to the Raspbian desktop. In addition to the usual small tweaks and bug fixes, the big new changes are the inclusion of an offline version of Scratch 2.0 and of Thonny (a user-friendly IDE for Python which is excellent for beginners). Scratch is one of the most popular pieces of software on Raspberry Pi. This is largely due to the way it makes programming accessible - while it is simple to learn, it covers many of the concepts that are used in more advanced languages. Scratch really does provide a great introduction to programming for all ages. Raspbian ships with the original version of Scratch, which is now at version 1.4. A few years ago, though, the Scratch team at the MIT Media Lab introduced the new and improved Scratch version 2.0, and ever since we've had numerous requests to offer it on the Pi." Download: 2017-06-21-raspbian-jessie.zip (1,582MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, pkglist).

Simon Long has announced the release of Raspbian 2016-11-25, a security update of the Debian-based distribution for the Raspberry Pi single-board computers: "The more observant among you may have spotted that we've recently updated the Raspbian-with-PIXEL image. With any major release of the OS, we usually find a few small bugs and other issues as soon as the wider community starts using it, and so we gather up the fixes and produce a 1.1 release a few weeks later. We don't make a fuss about these bug fix releases, as there's no new functionality; these are just fixes to make things work as originally intended. However, in this case, we've made a couple of important changes. They won't be noticed by many users, but to those who do notice them and who will be affected by them, we should explain ourselves! What has changed? First, from now on SSH will be disabled by default on our images." Here is the full release announcement with an explanation of the changes made in this release. Download: 2016-11-25-raspbian-jessie.zip (1,469MB, SHA1, torrent, pkglist).

Simon Long has announced the release of Raspbian 2016-05-10, an updated build of the popular Debian-based distribution designed for the Raspberry Pi: "We've just released a new version of our Raspbian image with some (hopefully) useful features. When the Pi 3 launched back in February, we'd not had time to do much in terms of getting access to the new on-board Bluetooth hardware. There was a working software stack, but the UI was non-existent. I'd hoped to be able to use one of the existing Linux Bluetooth UIs, but on trying them all, none were really what I was looking for in terms of usability and integration with the look and feel of the desktop. I really didn't want to write one from scratch, but that ended up being what I did, which meant a fun few weeks trying to make head or tail of the mysteries of BlueZ and D-Bus. After a few false starts, I finally got something I felt was usable, and so there is now a Bluetooth plugin for the LXPanel taskbar." Read the rest of the release announcement for a detailed list of changes. Download: 2016-05-10-raspbian-jessie.zip (1,361MB, SHA1, torrent, pkglist).

Simon Long has announced the release of Raspbian 2016-02-03, the latest version of the project's Debian-based distribution for the ever so popular Raspberry Pi computer: "Some of you may have spotted that there is a new Raspbian release available for download. For most people, this is primarily about updates and bug fixes - but there's one exciting new feature that might be of interest to some people. ... In this release we are shipping an experimental OpenGL driver for the desktop which uses the GPU to provide hardware acceleration. This is turned off by default - if you want to enable it, you can find it in the command-line version of raspi-config, under Advanced Options, GL Driver. Due to memory requirements, this will not work on Pi 1 or Pi Zero boards - it is solely for Pi 2. If you don't use this option, the desktop does have OpenGL support, but it uses a very slow software renderer, which makes all but the most basic OpenGL applications pretty much unusable. The hardware-accelerated version is much faster, and makes some quite decent OpenGL games playable on the Pi." Continue to the release announcement for more details. Download: 2016-02-03-raspbian-jessie.zip (1,400MB, SHA1, torrent, pkglist).

Simon Long has announced the release of the first Debian "Jessie"-based Raspbian, version 2015-09-24, a distribution designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi single-board mini-computer. What's new in this major update? "Many of the changes between Wheezy and Jessie are invisible to the end-user. There are modifications to the underlying system to improve performance and flexibility, particularly as regards the control of system processes, and as with any update, there are numerous bug fixes and tweaks. And at the same time as the upgrade to Jessie, we've added a bunch of changes and improvements to the desktop user interface. The first thing anyone starting the new Jessie image from scratch will notice is that the default behaviour is to boot straight to the desktop GUI, not to the Linux command line. This was a decision taken because this is the expected behaviour for all modern computers; the default interface for a personal computer in 2015 is a desktop GUI, not just text on a screen." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details and screenshots. Download: 2015-09-24-raspbian-jessie.zip (1,271MB, SHA1, pkglist, torrent).